Cobb County became the latest Friday to be included in a state investigation of voter registration applications submitted by a Democratic-backed group.
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a Republican, opened the inquiry this week, after receiving dozens of complaints about the New Georgia Project. Among the issues he cited were applications with inaccurate or false information, applications completed or "forged" after telephone conversations between voters and representatives of the group and voters being told they were legally required to re-register to vote.
The addition of Cobb brings to 12 the number of counties reporting complaints now included in the inquiry. The others are Bartow, Butts, Coweta, DeKalb, Effingham, Gwinnett, Henry, Muscogee, Tatnall, Terrell and Toombs.
State House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, founded the registration group in November, and has identified fewer than 25 voter applications out of more than 85,000 submitted. State officials, however, have repeatedly refused to give an exact number involved in the case.
Abrams and more than a dozen civil rights and religious leaders have vocally questioned the timing of Kemp's inquiry, which may not be resolved until after the state's Oct.6 voter registration deadline.
The group has until Tuesday to respond to a subpoena Kemp issued this week.
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